Xuanzhou Red Crisp Peach Picking Season Activity kicks off
2023-06-13
The Xuanzhou Red Crisp Peach, also known as “Pig’s Blood Peach”, is a renowned national geographical indication agricultural product.
Upon entering the Xuanzhou Red Crisp Peach Picking Base, visitors are greeted with a verdant landscape, filled with plump and tender peaches hanging from branches amidst lush green leaves. The peaches exude a delightful aroma, and a bite of the crisp flesh and sweet juice will immediately tantalize one’s taste buds.
At the base, tourists pick and photograph peaches while farmers work diligently to harvest, pack, and ship peaches, creating a picturesque harvest scene.
Xuanzhou Town has unique advantages in the cultivation of Hengshan Red Crisp Peaches which grow on purple shale and boast thick, sweet, crispy and delicious flesh. With its characteristics of bright red flesh, fragrant aroma and juicy texture, the peach has gained fame in Hunan Province.
The red crisp peach has been cultivated for more than a century, and in 2019, it was registered as a national geographical indication agricultural product. In 2021, it was certified as green food.
At the opening ceremony of the picking season, Dai Xinxian, Secretary of Hengshan County Party Committee, presented a plaque to Yi Miaoying, the promotion ambassador of Hengshan Red Crisp Peach. The production and sales cooperation partners of Hengshan Red Crisp Peach signed contracts on site while postal express delivery trucks were loaded up with peaches which would be shipped to other cities throughout the country.
In addition, tourists can visit scenic spots such as Xuanzhou Ancient Town, Liujin’s Family Ancestral Temple, and Xuanzhou National Wetland Park, and even take short videos and post them on apps such as Douyin and Kuaishou to showcase Xuanzhou’s outstanding achievements in culture and tourism development.
“The plenty of rain this year resulted in a good harvest for the red crisp peaches. Just yesterday, one of our regular customers ordered 250 kilograms of peaches,” said Kang Guobin, head of the picking base in Gaomei Village. Since 2017, Kang has been operating the Yangque Mountain Peach Orchard, where he has planted over 300 peach trees and expects a total yield of 3,750 kilograms this year. Through a combination of online orders and onsite picking, he now sells over 400 kilograms of red crisp peaches daily, which has become an essential source of income for him.
“I have been growing peaches since 2020 and have already planted more than 500 fruit trees. In the past few days, I have employed 7 to 8 people per day to pick peaches, and the annual income from growing peaches can reach 20,000 yuan”, said Liu Zuorong, a peach grower in Lishi Village.
At present, the planting area of Xuanzhou Red Crisp Peach is more than 6,000 mu (400 hectares), with a total output value of 50 million yuan. This has helped over 3,600 households in the surrounding villages achieve an average annual income of more than 8,000 yuan.
In recent years, Hengshan County has been committed to promoting the integration of agriculture and tourism. By taking the opportunity of hosting the red crisp peach picking activity, Xuanzhou Town has made efforts in publicizing tourist attractions such as Xuanzhou Ancient Town, Liujin’s Family Ancestral Temple, and Xuanzhou National Wetland Park to boost its cultural tourism development.
